Fate Dark
by 5power
Summary: Once again the Holy Grail has replaced the heroes that will do battle in the forth Heaven's Feel. Let the wheel of fate turn and see how things change.
1. Chapter 1: Dark

Fate/Dark

Chapter 1: Dark

Kirei Kotomine was a very strange man. He was extremely talented to the point that he would succeed at everything he tried with little effort, yet, for all he accomplished he never felt any kind of joy. No matter what good he did, he never felt any kind of happiness. A truly miserable existence but that was not the worst part.

Believe it or not Kirei was once a devoted husband and father, sadly this feat also failed to make him feel any joy. His wife was able to figure this out and in response committed suicide hoping that the event would cause her husband to feel some kind of emotion. He did, it was sadness but not because she had died, no it was because he wasn't the one who killed her. He was so terrified that he sent his daughter away.

Not long after his wife's death, Kirei got a new mission, to take part in a ritual know as the Holy Grail War. This "ritual" was a life or death contest between Magi. For the sake of an omnipotent wish, granting devise called The Holy Grail. As one could imagine The Church couldn't just allow anyone to get their hands on it, which was why they had formed an alliance with the magus called Tokiomi Tohsaka. His wish was a simply one to use The Grail to reach The Root. The goal that most magi sought, it was also harmless and would have little to no effect on the rest of the world.

That is where Kirei would come in. While Tokiomi would take control of the Archer class servant Gilgamesh, Kirei would take control of the Assassin servant Hassan-i-Sabah, the two of them would pretend to be enemies. But they would in fact be allies with Kirei and Assassin gathering intelligence that Tokiomi would use to eliminate the enemy.

But that left one lingering question, why had The Grail chosen Kirei in the first place? He had no ambitions, no desires or any ideals; he had no use for The Grail. Tokiomi had speculated he had been picked to be a master, to help the Tohsakas. Kirei doubted that this was the case but then again it wasn't like he could come up with anything better.

Still, there was one up side to all this, he might be able to meet Kiritsugu Emiya the infamous mage killer. The man had been hired by a German family of magi called the Einzberns to act on their behalf.

As part of his preparation for the Holy Grail War, Kirei had done research on participating masters, from what could be gathered, Emiya was a mercenary who specialised in killing magi. In fact he was so good at it he became something of a bogie man. He was infamous for his ruthless methods, for example this man once shot down a passenger jet just because his target happened to be on it at the time.

Naturally, Tokiomi had written Emiya off as a hired gun who was just in it for the money. But from what Kirei observed, that explanation made very little sense. For all his pragmatism, Kiritsugu Emiya would often take jobs that were very dangerous but what he got paid for his work often was far too small in comparison to the risk. The man seemed to have no concept of risk versus reward. So what was the mage killer looking for? What were his motives for chasing death? Kirei hoped that this conflict would allow him to meet Emiya and answers those questions. Hopefully this would help understand Kirei understand himself better. But all that would have to be saved for the future. In the mean time the priest had a ritual to finish.

"Ye first, O silver, O iron.

O stone of the foundation, O Archduke of the Contract.

Hear me in the name of our great teacher, the Archmagus Schweinorg.

Let the descending winds be as a wall.

Let the gates in all directions be shut, rising above the crown, and let the three-forked roads to the Kingdom revolve.

Shut. Shut. Shut. Shut. Shut.

Five perfections for each repetition.

And now, let the filled sigils be annihilated in my stead!

Set.

Let thy body rest under my dominion, let my fate rest in thy blade.

If thou submitteth to the call of the Holy Grail, and if thou wilt obey this mind, this reason, then thou shalt respond.

I make my oath here.

I am that person who is become the virtue of all Heaven.

I am that person who is covered with the evil of all Hades.

Thou seven heavens, clad in a trinity of words,

come past thy restraining rings, and be thou the hands that protect the balance-!"

There was a blinding flash of light followed by a thick layer smoke. Both faded to reveal…..Someone who clearly wasn't Hassan-i-Sabah!

According to accounts from previous Grail Wars those who went under the title of the Old Man of the Mountain when summoned took the form of a humanoid with pitch black skin and wore a skull mask that hid a featureless face.

The man Kirei had summoned wore the garb of a typical English gentleman from the 18th century. Kirei was about to ask the servant who he was , but before he could say anything the servant much to the priest's surprise started laughing like someone told him the punch line of joke. The servant composed himself, "sorry about that, I am the servant Assassin, I assume by the command spells on your hand that you are my master." Assassin's voice and mannerism were both polite and refined just as one would expect from someone of his dress.

"You are correct, before we seal the contract there is one question I would like to ask you, you are not the servant that went with the catalyst I used so what is your true identity?" Assassin pondered Kirei's words before reaching his hand forward "Haytham Kenway," and the contract between the priest and the templar was sealed with hand shake.

Waver Velvet was far from anything that could be called a fine physical specimen; he was short, scrawny and was also pretty wimpy. But he was also extremely intelligent, hard working and determined. Not that any of that seemed to matter to his peers who all blindly followed the idea that stature and the age of one's bloodline were the only things that mattered. Waver hated it so much that he spent weeks after weeks researching and studying in order to disprove the notion and show that anyone could became a great mage if they worked at it. But his arrogant ass of a teacher Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi hadn't even bothered to read his essay; in fact he mocked and humiliated Waver in front of the entire class.

This angered Waver so much that when he bumped into a courier delivering an important package to Archibald, he stole it out of spite. Then went to the library to do some research on the package, it turned out that it was an artefact that once belonged to Alexander the Great and it would be used in an event called the Holy Grail War. In these ritual seven magi summoned the spirits of ancient heroes, as servants battling each other for the Holy Grail an artefact that would grant one wish for the winning master and servant. This filled Waver with glee, at last! A place where status and titles meant nothing, finally a chance to prove himself!

So the young mage apprentice hopped onto a plane heading to Fuyuki City in Japan. After getting himself, a place to stay the command spells appeared on his hand confirming that he was a master. Then he gathered the supplies, formed the summoning circle from the blood of stolen roosters and spoke the summoning incantation.

What Waver expected to appear from the circle was a powerful warrior dressed in the finest of Greek armours. Instead he got some overweight guy wearing a fedora hat, a brown jacket, and glasses and holding a flint lock pistol in one of his hands.

"Hello I am the servant Rider, are you my master?" Rider asked, his accent revealing that he was American. "Yes," Waver responded, his disappointment shinning through his voice as he looked over Rider's shoulder at the ritual he had made to see if anything had gone wrong.

Rider noticed this action, "hey what are you looking…." The servant stopped when he saw the box which held the tattered remains of Alexander the Great's red cape. It didn't take him long to put the pieces together. "Oh so I wasn't the guy you wanted to summon, well this is awkward."

What followed was an uneasy silence which finally ended when Waver decided to ask an important question "So who are you anyway?" "Oh, I'm Linkara of Atop the Forth Wall were bad comics burn," Rider said crossing his arms and smiling with pride. "Excuse me?" Waver asked giving Rider a confused look. "Well…you see um," Rider paused trying to find a way to explain in a manner that would sound impressive to the young man before him. "Well you see I review comic books."

"What do you mean?" Waver asked as a sense of dread started to creep into his being.

"It is just like I said, it's my job to read a bad comic then go on camera and tell people why it sucks," Rider's explanation, causing Waver to bury his face into hands in shame and despair.

"I summoned an entertainer and not just any entertainer but one who wasted his life on a ridiculous hobby, he's got to be the weakest servant that anyone could possibly summon," Waver mutter to himself, "probably doesn't even have a noble phantasm."

"Hey!" Rider yelled while uncrossing his arms and giving his master an annoyed look. "Just so you know I happen to be a servant of significant strength with plenty of powerful phantasms." Waver gave Linkara a cynical glare, "but all you did in life was "review comics" how the hell does someone like you even become a heroic spirit in the first place."

A smug grin appeared on Rider's face, "so you don't believe, well in that case I'm just going to have to show you," Rider put his hand into one of the pockets of his trench coat and pulled out a strange metal device, and then spoke into the machine. "NIMUE beam us up!"One second later the master and the servant disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi was a very typical mage. Prideful and extremely dedicated to upholding his family's honour, this was why he had been more than happy to become a master after being chosen by the Grail.

Before taking part Kayneth needed to decide which servant to use and spent many a night studying the various classes. Sabre the class of master swordsmen, Lancer the master of polearms, Archer the master of projectiles and range weapons, Rider the masters of riding legendary mounts and vehicles, Berserker the class for wretched souls cursed with insanity, Caster a master of magecraft welding spells that were far superior to those of a modern magi and Assassin a master of stealth and the dread of all would be masters.

After completing his research Archibald began looking for the right heroic sprit to summon. He searched through the vast sea of history and myth before finally settling on the mighty king of conquerors, Alexander the Great as Rider. However the package containing the summoning catalyst went missing forcing Kayneth to get another relic for a different hero.

This time the relic belonged to the Irish hero Diarmuid Ua Duibhne and on this occasion the artefact came on time. So the mage could summon his servant without any fuss. There was only one more thing to deal with:

You see, when it was time for Archibald to research the contract between servants and masters, he found a way that would allow a servant to contract with than more one person. This meant that one person would have the command spells and act as master while the other would provide the servant with the precious mana, needed to exist in the living world, while allowing the master to fight at full strength.

As whom the second contractor would be, well Kayneth had the perfect person in mind, his fiancée Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri. When they first met on the day their marriage was arranged, he was instantly smitten by the fiery redhead. Yes he truly did love her; even though she clearly didn't return the feeling but Kayneth was certain that she would warm up to him eventually. Who knows? Maybe this war would give him a chance to impress her. Anyway it was time to summon Diarmuid.

"Ye first, O silver, O iron.

O stone of the foundation, O Archduke of the Contract.

Hear me in the name of our great teacher, the Archmagus Schweinorg.

Let the descending winds be as a wall.

Let the gates in all directions be shut, rising above the crown, and let the three-forked roads to the Kingdom revolve.

Shut. Shut. Shut. Shut. Shut.

Five perfections for each repetition.

And now, let the filled sigils be annihilated in my stead!

Set.

Let thy body rest under my dominion, let my fate rest in thy blade.

If thou submitteth to the call of the Holy Grail, and if thou wilt obey this mind, this reason, then thou shalt respond.

I make my oath here.

I am that person who is become the virtue of all Heaven.

I am that person who is covered with the evil of all Hades.

Thou seven heavens, clad in a trinity of words,

come past thy restraining rings, and be thou the hands that protect the balance-!"

There was a flash of blue light and a servant emerged from the circle but unfortunately it wasn't the great Irish hero that Sola-Ui and Kayneth expected. He was a boy with golden hair and eyes; he wore a red bright coat with a black Flamel symbol emblazoned on its back. His right arm and left leg were made of metal; he was also short, very very short.

The boy started to mutter to himself while staring at his right fist with an irritated almost angry look on his face but it was nothing compared to how Kayneth was feeling. "Who are you? Where is Diarmuid?!"

The servant gave the Archibald mage a glare before answering. "Sorry but I don't know who this Diarmuid is" the servant said not sounding the least bit apologetic, "oh by the way I am Lancer, nice to meet you master." Lancer added with sarcasm.

"I meant your true identity you id…." Before Kayneth could finish his sentence, he was interrupted, "Kayneth Stop it! He may not be the heroic spirit we wished for but Lancer did answer our summons and we should respect him."

Kayneth took a deep frustrated sigh, "very well then," he said whilst putting on one of the most forced smiles anyone could make ever make, "Lancer, I would greatly appreciate it if you told me your true identity."

Lancer turned around and finally cracked a smile, "I'm Edward Elric, The Fullmetal Alchemist."

The Matou Mansion on the surface of it looked like a very fine, grand place. However, if one was able to take the time to investigate the basement they would discover that Matou house was a vile, wretched place where dark acts of horrifying proportion were committed and the one responsible for it all was called Zouken Matou.

At first glance Zouken Matou may just appear to be a frail old man but nothing could be further from the truth. The truth was that Zouken wasn't even human but instead a mass of disgusting insects that took the form of man. Obviously he hadn't always been like that but the magus had long since left his humanity behind in his quest for immortally, a quest that had led him to ruin countless lives including the one of the man standing next to him Kariya Matou.

Kariya was the original heir to the Matou family but he so was disgusted by the Matou mage craft that he left Matous and never looked back. That was until he visited a personal friend and wife to Tokiomi Tohsaka, Aoi Tohsaka. During the visit he learned that Tokiomi had given his youngest daughter Sakura in order to resolve the problem: Which of his daughters would get the Tohsaka's family crest?

Kariya, unable to stomach the horrors that Sakura would have to endure under the Matous, went straight to Zouken and made a deal with the old worm sack. If he won the Holy Grail he would give it to Zouken and in return Zouken would release Sakura from his "care."

In order to make up for his lack of training Kariya was given crest worms which would make him powerful enough to control a servant but at the price of slowly and painful destroying his body.

That didn't matter to Kariya as a long as it helped him free Sakura life of misery and sexual abuse. Regardless, it was time for Kariya to speak the incantation and summon the berserk class servant Lancelot the Knight of the Lake.

"Ye first, O silver, O iron.

O stone of the foundation, O Archduke of the Contract.

Hear me in the name of our great teacher, the Archmagus Schweinorg.

Let the descending winds be as a wall.

Let the gates in all directions be shut, rising above the crown, and let the three-forked roads to the Kingdom revolve.

Shut. Shut. Shut. Shut. Shut.

Five perfections for each repetition.

And now, let the filled sigils be annihilated in my stead!

Set.

Let thy body rest under my dominion, let my fate rest in thy blade.

If thou submitteth to the call of the Holy Grail, and if thou wilt obey this mind, this reason, then thou shalt respond.

I make my oath here.

I am that person who is become the virtue of all Heaven.

I am that person who is covered with the evil of all Hades.

Yet, thou serve with thine eyes clouded in chaos

Thou bound in the cage of madness

I am the he who commands those chains

Thou seven heavens, clad in a trinity of words,

come past thy restraining rings, and be thou the hands that protect the balance-!"

A flash of blue light came from the circle and blinded both Kariya and Zouken when their vision return they both saw something neither of them exected. A cute little girl with silver white hair, blue eyes and pale skin, she wore very little clothing which included a black modified waist coast, purple shoes, black stockings and the most troubling part, a pair of black panties.

She turned to Kariya, "we are the servant Berserker, are you our master?" Kariya still more than a little flabbergasted by the fact he summoned a little girl, took a couple of moments to respond. "I am," that was when Zouken choose to say his piece. "Well I shouldn't be surprised that you screwed up the summoning Kariya, but luckily for you I will over look this little failure on your part and the agreement we made will carry on as planned."

Zouken turned to leave the room when suddenly a mass of thick black sludge erupted from the summing circle, slowly shifting into a strange humanoid being.

His skin was pitch black, the area from his abdomen to his chest was covered in green lines; the centre of his face had two, horn like red marks on each side, his right eye had black sclera and his left eye a golden iris. Finally his two, elf like ears were pierced by dangling earrings. He floated above the other occupants of the room, staring down at them with an evil smirk.

"Who are you?" Zouken asked sounding oddly relaxed in great contrast to Berserker, who was keeping her ice cold blue eyes fixed on the intruder ready to strike at moment's notice. The humanoid unaware or unconcerned by Berserker turned to Zouken. "I am the servant Avenger and you Zouken Matou are my master!"

Zouken suddenly felt a strange burning sensation on his left "hand." He looked to see that three red marks had appeared on his palm, command spells the sign of a contract between a master and a servant. The menacing monster cracked a twisted smile; this Grail War had just got a lot more interesting!

A/N: I would like to thank Lord Mist for allow me put Edward Elric into the Lancer class and to everyone who helped with poor spelling and grammer. Anyway please feel free to review at your leisure and thank you for reading.


	2. Chapter 2: Before the storm of war

Chapter 2: Before the storm of war

The once clean living room floor of suburban Fuyuki house was now stained with crimson blood and carried the thick smell of death. Strung across it were two bodies, one of a man the other a woman, both having been butchered into a gory mess. Near the centre of the room was a circle drawn from their blood, next to it gagged and tied was a terrified little boy who was staring at the man who had caused all this.

He mostly wore purple, had orange hair and was casually staring at a TV which was currently showing a news report about his gruesome deeds. His name was Ryūnosuke Uryū, he was unemployed so he made money by working odd jobs and loved to express himself by murdering people and turning their bodies into "works of art." He had recently come into possession of an old occult book that belonged to his ancestors. After looking at pentagram drawings he came to the assumption that his ancestors were trying to summon demons.

This got the young killer excited, was this book for real? Did daemons really exist? Ryūnosuke's curiosity had been pricked, he had to know: dam it! He needed to know all the cool new ways of killing! The daemon could show him!

So he started going around killing people and drawing summoning circles from their blood trying and failing. These acts earned him the rather ironic nickname 'the demon of Fuicky City.'

Ryūnosuke turned off the TV and turned to the child. "Hey kid do you believe in demons?" Ryūnosuke asked in a very carefree voice that made him even more disturbing than he already was. "You see, all those folks on the news say I am some horrible demon but what if there really was such a thing as demons? Wouldn't that seem rude to them? I mean you have to be clear on this stuff."

The madman suddenly went right up into child's face. "Hello I am Ryūnosuke Uryū and I am a demon." Ryūnosuke shouted in a semi dramatic fashion, the boy just gave muffled screams and tried to futilely to escape his bonds. Ryūnosuke put one of his hands on his neck and sighed.

"Maybe this isn't the best way go about it, but look I found this dusty old book in a storage. It turns out some of my ancestors were doing some research on how to go about summoning demons, so I just have got to know if daemons exist or not. However, if a daemon were to show up it would be pretty stupid to just chat with it for a while and then send it back to whatever pit of hell it came from, so kid, if a demon does appear, would you mind letting it eat you?"

The boy started squirming and muffling while Ryūnosuke Uryū laughed either oblivious or thrilled by his captive's panic and fear. "I wonder what it's like being killed by a demon, must be pretty exciting, not many people get to find out."

Suddenly the back of Ryūnosuke hands started to feel very hot like it was been placed against a hot piece of metal. As the heat died down it was replaced by a strange blood red tattoo like marks. Suddenly the crimson circle was crackling blue bolts of energy followed by a cloud of smoke. It lasted for but a moment, in its place was a man.

He wore a skin tight black outfit, which was decorated with silver. The best example being an upside down Equilateral triangle with three rectangles above its base, "I have been summoned within the Caster class, what is your name, my master?"

The man's voice sounded very dry and cold, yet it had also a bizarre dream like quality. Ryūnosuke rubbed the back of his head in confusion. "Well my name is Ryūnosuke Uryū I currently make money doing odd jobs, my hobby is murder of all kinds, I also like people especially women and children." Caster simply nodded, "Very well the contract is sealed."

Ryūnosuke still didn't know what this Caster was talking about but that was no reason not to be polite. "So…want to eat this kid?" Ryūnosuke gestured his hands towards the child who started squirming on the floor.

Caster looked down at the boy, and then pulled something out, it was a golden cylinder. It appeared to be a harmless unassuming object; Caster pointed the cylinder at the kid there was an ominous hum, then a stream of green light and where the boy once laid there only a tiny pile of ash.

Ryūnosuke started with his mouth wide open, before exploding into yells of excitement and glee. "That was so cool! I don't know who you are, or what's going on but show me new ways of killing people and I will follow you but just one question, what is your name?"

Caster gave an extremely dull smile, "William Hand."

* * *

When Waver decided to join the Grail War he had expected to experience things that most people wouldn't, however being in space was definitely not one of them. Yet here he was, standing inside a massive space ship, looking through a huge window down at the Earth. It was quite a sight to behold too with its crystal blue water and its luscious green forests, yellow barren deserts, hard grey mountains and pale snow caps all glowing majestically in the sun light. It made Waver feel so small by comparison; it was very humbling yet inspiring experience.

He only stopped staring when Rider tapped him shoulder, "So Waver, is my Comicon 1 awesome or what?" Waver's body jerked slightly, "um...Uh," his eyes began staring around the ship as his voice stuttered; he tried to pull itself together.

"Ok I will admit this ship is very impressive, but I thought you were an "internet critic," how did you get something like this?"

"Simple! I won it off an evil multiverse conquering warlord," Rider said causally similar to the way one would discuss the weather or some other mundane topic while fiddling with a computer consul.

"Oh," Waver said before looking out of the window again, there was a brief pause.…. "Wait what!?" Rider just raised a hand, "I will tell you later anyway, NIMUE what's our status."

Waver was about to ask who Linkara was talking to when something interrupted him. "_All systems are operating at full capacity and ready for use."_

Waver jumped with a start, "Who said that?"

"Don't worry that's NIMUE just the ships A.I." At this point Waver decided to stop trying to figure out his bizarre servant and just accept things as they went along. However that didn't mean he was just going to stand around in silence.

"Not that this ship isn't impressive or anything but how are going use this ship? Will we be using the ship to bombard the enemy servants from orbit?"

"That's a good question, NIMUE?" Linkara said.

NIMUE wasted no time in responding, "_After analysing the rules of the Grail War I have concluded that that tacit would be ill advised, even at their lowest setting the ship's weapons would not only cause an unnecessary amount of collateral damage but also the action of a weapon being fired from space would attract the attention of military forces to the area along with various news origination and Governments, making the Grail War impossible to keep secret."_

"Oh," Waver said in disappointment.

"_However using the sensors I will able to detect and track any magic within the area of Fuyuki City."_

"Which means?" Waver asked.

"If enemy servants use any magic we will know exactly where they are, allowing us to track their movements." Rider said

Waver smiled a little, he could defiantly see the advantage of keeping tabs on the enemy, in fact now that he thought about it if they were forced into hiding the ship would be the perfect sanctuary. Perhaps he hadn't summoned such a bad servant after all, which reminded him:

"Hey Rider if, I mean when, we win the Grail what are going to wish for," Waver asked.

Rider turned away from the console slightly, "undo One More Day."

"What's that?" Waver asked this time with a hint of confusion.

"Oh it's a comic book thing you wouldn't understand," Rider started turning back to his computer he stopped, "Hey Waver why do want the Grail?"

Waver couldn't say he was surprised that Rider asked that question. Since he had just asked Rider the exact same thing he felt it was only fair he answered too. "To be honest I don't really have a wish, the only thing I want is for people to treat me fairly, to force those closed minded fools who mocked and ridiculed me to acknowledge my talents and work!"

Rider started chuckling; Waver started to become irritated and gave his servant an angry glare. "Are you mocking me?" Rider quickly regained his composure but still kept his humorous smile.

"Sorry Waver it's just your motives sound like those of a generic super villain." Waver began to worry, "um…is that going to be problem?"

Rider shook "no, as long as you don't try to take over the world, then we will get along just fine, however if you are going to fight then you should have a wish prepared."

"Yeah," Waver muttered as he turned back to the window. Rider was right, he should have thought about that wish.

* * *

Kariya Matou slowly walked down the halls of Matou Manor; today had been surprising to say the least. At first, Kariya had despaired at the fact he had failed to summon the correct servant, but then Avenger showed up and declared himself to be Zouken servant.

Kariya wasn't a fool, he was aware that Zouken only accepted the deal so he could watch Kariya die a slow and very painful death, mostly to amuse himself. But now that Zouken had a servant of his own, he was suddenly taking the war a lot more seriously.

While Kariya couldn't say that this turn of events wouldn't help him rescue Sakura, he also couldn't bring himself to be happy about it, (mainly because Avenger made his skin crawl) very fitting for a "heroic sprit" in service of Zouken Matou.

"Are you alright father?" asked the childish voice of Berserk. Kariya still had a hard time believing that someone so young could became a heroic spirit let alone the Berserker class.

Berserker the class of mad men, the scorned, the cursed and bloodthirsty, to gain entrance into such a class this child must have gone through hell just like Sakura.

"Father," Berserker asked again, her concern growing. Kariya's mind ceased drifting immediately, "Don't worry I'm alright."

Berserker wasn't convinced, "Father what's wrong with your body? It looks strange." Kariya sighed, there really was no fooling a servant was there!

Before he could start explaining something interrupted him "Uncle Kariya are you leaving?"

It was a little girl around the same age as Berserker but unlike the servant of "madness" whose eyes were icy cold, this girl's eyes were dull and lifeless, she was Kariya niece Sakura.

Kariya bent down and placed a hand on Sakura's right shoulder, "yes," he said bitterly. He hated the very idea of leaving but now that he had summoned a servant, Zouken he would never let Kariya sleep in his house and would never allow Sakura to leave without his permission.

Sakura lowered her head in dismay "Don't worry, I will come back to check on you in the morning," Kariya said trying to reassure the girl, it didn't work.

"Ok," Sakura said as she slowly walked off to her bedroom, Kariya staring at her, a cold dread seeping into him.

"Who was that master?" something was off about Berserker, for one this was the first time she referred to Kariya as master since the summoning. Up until this point she always called him father and he wasn't sure but Kariya could have sworn he heard a hint of jealousy in Berserker's voice.

"Her name is Sakura; she is my niece and a member of the Matou family of magi or at least that is what everyone insists on, she is actually the daughter of an old friend of mine, Aoi Tohsaka."

"If she isn't really a Matou then why is she here?" Berserker asked her previous jealously now replaced with concern.

"Her father seemed to care more about his magic then his daughter's happiness and gave her to Zouken who in turn exposed her to crest worms and they violated her!" Kariya spat the last part in venomous anger, "I enter the war in order to save her from this fate but I didn't have the power to control a servant so I took some crest worms into myself but they are destroying my body and regardless of the outcome I will die."

Kariya started walking down but then stopped, "Would you like us to watch over Sakura for the night, father?" Kariya turned around his eyes lighting up with pleasant surprise. "You would really do that?" Berserker nodded, Kariya smiled, "Thank you," he said before walking down the hall.

A few minutes later Berserker was in Sakura's room, the little girl was tossing and turning in her sleep. Just like Berserker did on those cold nights in the slums of Victorian London. Sister Sakura was a child discarded by her parents for being an inconvenience, left to endure unimaginable misery and pain. Just like Berserker had once been, she vowed not only to free Sakura but to bring death to those who abandoned her. After all what was Jack the Ripper but an embodiment of vengeful rage of abandoned children, to do any less would be against their nature.

Meanwhile two floors above Zouken, Matou sat watching Berserker and Sakura using a crystal orb. The servant called Avenger was looking over his master's shoulder. "Aren't you going to do anything about this little scene?" Zouken gave a dismissive grin.

"As long as Sakura doesn't leave the property without my consent and it does not interfere with the girl's education or the Grail War then I will allow it." Zouken really didn't care about the girl's well being and under normal circumstances he would have just denied Berserker attempt at comfort, threatened Sakura, laughed in Kariya's face and left his pathetic "grandson" to his misery.

But these were not ordinary circumstances; originally Zouken had given up on any chance of winning the Grail War. The Matou family magic had grown so weak that they needed to adopt a Tohsaka just to keep it going. This didn't change when Kariya made his little offer. The worthless man hadn't done any serious training in his entire life and even with crest worms he was nothing compared to the powerful magi that normally take part in Grail Wars.

Zouken accepted Kariya's offer for two reasons, one was to amuse himself by watching Kariya die horribly and more importantly his fate would serve as a reminder to the girl Tohsaka of what happened to anyone who crossed him.

That changed when Avenger showed up and revealed his power, now Zouken had a chance to win the Grail and gain the immortality that he so desperately wanted. This meant denying Kariya and Berserker would be good for a laugh. It would ultimately cause Kariya to get angry which would agitate the worms, which in turn would shorten his life and as pathetic as he was, Kariya had some uses or to be accurate his servant did.

Speaking of servants, "Now Avenger, I believe we have another matter to discuss, you know why I seek the Grail, now I would like to know what your wish is?"

Avenger gave a dark grin, "Revenge."

* * *

Kirei stared down at Tohsaka Manor from a top of a green hill. "I just got word, Caster has been summoned, which means the Grail War can now officially begin." Kirei said, standing next to him was the Assassin servant, Haytham Kenway.

The former executioner was more than a little wary of Kenway, not only had the Grail seemed to ignore the catalyst but also violated a rule of the Assassin class, only those that had held the title of Hassan-i-Sabah could be summoned as an Assassin.

This rule was a natural consequence of the nature of an Assassin vs. the qualities needed to become a heroic spirit. In general heroic spirits were people that did great things and had been recognised for it, while the best Assassins were silent anonymous killers that kept their heads down and avoided attention, the antithesis of a heroic spirit.

So when the Grail system was being constructed, it was made such that only one of the nineteen Hassan-i-Sabah could be summoned as an Assassin. These leaders of the original Assassins were perfect candidates because while individually they could ascend to the throne of heroes, their true names became lost to history being remembered only by the title they shared. This allowed them to become famous yet still being anonymous killers.

So who was Haytham Kenway? Kirei had looked through countless records and couldn't find a single significant person that went by that name. It didn't help that Assassin had been very tight lipped about himself only revealing information that he wanted to share. Kirei had considered using a command seal to force his servant to revel the information but Tokiomi decided it would be better to save the command seal for what he considered to be more "urgent" times. Kirei wasn't sure that this was the best course of action but Tokiomi was in charge and for good or ill Kirei would follow his lead.

"You know what needs to be done right?" Kirei asked, "Do not worry I will give a good performance." Assassin responded before jumping off the hill.

When Haytham Kenway was summoned he laughed, why wouldn't he? The irony was just too great to ignore. A templar had been summoned into a servant class built around their greatest enemies and just to add to the irony he had usurped the role of this grail war's Assassin from Hassan-i-Sabah one of the greatest assassins that ever lived.

After regaining his composure, Kenway started strategizing with his master unfortunately he discovered that he and Kirei were little more than proxies, tools, to be used in order to guarantee Tokiomi's victory.

This created a lot of problems; Kenway's wish was to finally see creation of an ideal world that the Templar Order had strived for, it would be irresponsible not to. Were there other things Kenway wanted? Some secret selfish desires hidden away in his heart? Of course there were. But as he once told his son during the last moments of his life, the master templar would not weep and wonder what could have been.

Sadly Kirei had no interest in winning the Grail, so if he wanted his wish Kenway would have no choice but to use treachery. His first option was to simply wait until the very end of the Grail war and try to steal the wish granting device at the last second but then he would have to get through Tokiomi's servant which was about as likely as gold raining from the sky.

The second option was to approach a master whose servant had been killed and form a contract with them. This would mean Kirei would have to die which was a really shame, despite his cold and rather odd demander Haytham had a lot of respect for Kirei, he was hard working, loyal and intelligent, all very admirable qualities, however like just like anyone else who stood in the way of a perfect world he needed to be eliminated.

But all that would have to wait, for now Kenway would play the part of the unwitting pawn.

The Tohsaka manor was protected by several magical barriers designed to detect and keep intruders out. Each barrier was a series of rotating vertical blades, invisible to ordinary humans. The barriers were generated by a large gem positioned at its centre. Getting past them would be child's play for Assassin.

The templar drew one knife in each hand and threw each one into a separate gem destroying the barriers.

'Now' Haytham thought, 'unless I am mistaken he should be showing up right about now.'

"You have a lot of nerve showing yourself in my presence mongrel," as if on cue an arrogant voice came from the direction of a nearby balcony followed by a spear which flew straight at Kenway forcing him to deflect it with his sword and jump to one side to dodge a second a spear.

Assassin turned around and there he was standing on the balcony, his presence dripping with ego, wearing golden coloured armour which flashed as brilliantly as the gate behind him, the gate from which legendary weapons from every time and place imaginable emerged all pointing directly at Assassin, the Archer class servant Gilgamesh "The King of Heroes."

"Sorry for intruding but my master gave me orders and as a servant I must obey," Assassin said politely while bowing his head. Gilgamesh's expression changed from a cold glare to an arrogant smirk. "A man who knows how to address a king, such politeness should be rewarded, if you leave now I will allow you to live one more day."

"Thank you, your grace," Assassin bowed once more before taking his leave. 'I hope that performance will be good enough for you Tokiomi,' he thought. As he exited the garden the templar noticed out of the corner of his eye a small bat perched on a tree branch. That was good, it meant someone was watching, hopefully they would be fooled too.

* * *

A/N: I would like to thank Lord Mist for allow me put Edward Elric into the Lancer class and to everyone who helped with poor spelling and grammar. Anyway please feel free to review at your leisure and thank you for reading.


	3. Chapter 3: The Strom Unleashed

Chapter 3: The Strom Unleashed

"I have to give Assassin credit. He is great actor," said Tokiomi Tohsaka to himself.

"These games of yours are extremely tedious and waste my precious time, Tokiomi," Archer said as he materialised from sparks of golden light, a strong look of annoyance plastered across his face.

Tokiomi rose up from his desk and bowed his head. "My apologies your highness but this deception is necessary to eliminate our enemies I ask only that you stay your hand for just a little longer."

Gilgamesh's expression did not change. "Very well," he said. "For now I shall entertain myself with reconnaissance, this age is truly fascinating."

"I take that to mean the modern world is to your liking," Tokiomi asked. "No," Archer responded this time with a certain an edge to his voice, "It is unspeakably ugly but that is fine in its own way. However, if I find that none of the treasures of this age are worthy of me, then you will pay for summoning me."

"Rest assured, the Holy Grail is a treasure worthy of the King of Heroes," Tokiomi said.

"That will be for me to determine. But, regardless of its worth this Holy Grail like everything in this world belongs to me and I will never allow a lowly mongrel to even touch it without my permission. I will leave the details to you Tokiomi," Gilgamesh said, as he walked out of the room. His body vanished into golden sparks.

Tokiomi gave a frustrated sigh and sat back at his desk. It was times like this he regretted summoning Gilgamesh, true he was the most powerful heroic spirit but his very unique "personality" made him difficult to control, this was made even worse by his high independent action skill which allowed the servant to survive without the need of a mana source.

The irregular summoning of Assassin hadn't helped matters. Tokiomi, despite all his skill, knowledge and time researching still couldn't find out what went wrong. The Grail shouldn't have rejected the catalyst, let alone summoned this Haytham Kenway. Whatever the reason this had forced the Tohsaka group to change their plans. That wouldn't be too bad but Assassin wasn't being very cooperative, granted he was still easier to work with than Gilgamesh but his refusal to say anything about himself made Kenway untrustworthy.

To be honest Tokiomi was surprised that tonight's performance went as well as it did. Now he would just have to trust Kirei and hope for the best.

Kirei sat alone within the dimly lit kitchen of his safe house, waiting patiently for Assassin to return.

The house was a small western style building with three floors; the ground floor comprised of a kitchen and living room which led to a narrow hall which ended with the front door. The upper floor consisted of a bathroom and bed room and the floor below was a small wine cellar (Tokiomi loved his wine.)

Originally the plan was for Kirei to hideout in the church and use its supposed neutrality to protect himself but thanks to Assassin's irregular summoning Kirei needed somewhere else to hideout.

Luckily Tokiomi had already bought this house prior to the Grail War. It was meant to act as a place that Tokiomi could go to if Tohsaka Manor was destroyed or if Tokiomi was forced to abandon it.

The magus had gone through a lot of effort to keep the safe house a secret. After purchasing the building, he manipulated the memories of the people involved in the sale and destroyed just enough of the paper trail that it would be would very difficult to trace it back to him.

He had planned to keep it a secret from everyone until it was needed, but allowed Kirei to use it when the church was no longer an option.

"I have returned Master," Assassin said as he appeared from a fog of black shadows.

"So it seems," Kirei responded, "I trust you weren't followed."

"I assure you no one was following Master Kenway." A black haired man appeared from the shadows; he was wearing attire similar to Assassin and had a large bushy beard.

"Thank you Mr Lee, you may leave us," Assassin commanded. Lee in turn, gave a respectful nod and faded back into the shadows.

Mr Lee was one of Assassin's "spies." According to what little information he was willing to share. During his life Assassin had created a vast network of loyal spies. This network had become a group of wraths which shared the ability to remain undetected with their leader. Outside of combat, they were no match for real servants but they were an invaluable resource that allowed Assassin to know just about everything going on in the city.

Kirei turned away from his servant and towards a nearby window. All the pieces were in place, the first true battle of the Grail War will begin tomorrow night.

Meanwhile in a small house in the suburbs of the city Waver opened the door to his bedroom. "Hey Rider my familiars have just got back from the Tohsaka's place, want hear….um Rider are you listening.?"

Rider was staring at the TV with a look of disgust on his face, the news was on, the story was about a serial killer who had been terrorising the city recently.

"Rider?" Waver asked with concern. He did not respond, "Rider!"

The servant finally turned his attention away from the screen. "Sorry Waver, you were saying?."

"Well my familiars came back from spying on Tohsaka Manor and they caught a battle between Assassin and Tokiomi's servant," Waver said.

"Ok, so what happened?" Rider asked.

"Well not much to be honest, Assassin got as far as the front garden then Tohsaka's servant threw some spears at him. Then they talked for a bit and after that Assassin just left."

"That's not much to go on." Rider said ponderously

"What do you mean, we know that Tohsaka's servant is a Lancer, I mean what other servant class fight using spears!" Waver yelled.

"Not necessarily while it is reasonable to assume that the servant is a lancer, due his use of spears but a servant's class is not always determined by his primary weapon, for example my ability to use The Magic Gun qualifies me for the Archer class but I have been summoned as Rider due to the fact I am the captain of Comicon 1."

"Ok," Waver nodded with disappointment before giving sigh.

"Is there anything else you noticed about the servants?" Rider asked

"Well," Waver said, "I wasn't able to get a good look at Tohsaka's servant but was able see Assassin and he was dressed like a rich person from the 18th century."

"Well that's a start," Rider said. He pulled the metal communicator out his pocket. "NIMUE I want you to start to gather as much information as you can on famous males from the 18th century, also I want to hack into the Fuicky City's police force databases, create copies of every file about the serial murders that have been happening recently."

"Why would you do that?" Waver asked.

"I have reason to believe that the serial killer might be a master, if that's true then we can use the data to start are own investigation, track them down and remove them before they can cause anymore harm."

"And what will we do if the killer isn't a master?" Waver asked.

"Well," Rider said, "you're the master Waver, what do you think we should do?"

Waver opened his mouth to speak but suddenly stopped, choosing to stare at the ground instead, "I…I don't know."

"So did you enjoy your journey through the sky?" Irisviel von Einzbern asked as she step off the air plane.

"It was really nothing to speak of, it was a lot simpler than I, excepted," Saber said.

"I guess flying must be nothing special for a legendary hero," Irisviel said to the woman remembered as Arthur Pendragon but who was born under the name Artoria Pendragon.

Irisviel was more than surprised that the King of Knights was actually a woman; Kiritsugu had just taken the fact with perfect stoicism so it was hard for even Irisviel to tell what he thought about the matter. Though she knew why her husband hadn't said anything, right before the summoning Kiritsugu had explained that a servant in the end was just a weapon and as far he was concerned one should never get too attached to the tools of the trade.

So Kiritsugu had distanced himself from Saber never speaking to her directly, instead giving information and orders through Irisviel

"No that's not it; upon materialising we servants are given knowledge of the modern world. If necessary I could pilot this aircraft with ease?" Saber explained.

"You really could?" Irisviel asked in amazement.

"Yes, my riding skill allows me to command any vehicle or animal, with the exception of legendary or phantasmal beast. Once I put the saddle between my legs and take the reins I'm in control."

"Put the saddle between your legs and take the reins" there was a brief pause and then Irisviel started laughing.

Saber gave Irisviel a confused look, "What is it? Did I say something amusing?"

Irisviel simply shook her head in response.

Kiritsugu Emiya was known as The Magi Killer for a good reason. For many years Kiritsugu ruthlessly dispatched any give target with almost superhuman efficiency, yet oddly enough Kiritsugu hated violence. The only reason he shed blood was to maximise the number of lives saved. He would use every available method no matter how devious or underhand it might be. It wasn't an easy philosophy to live by and each death weighed heavily on his conscience. But he finally had a solution that could bring about an ideal world, the Holy Grail. Just one more dirty conflict, just one more bloody war and it would all be over.

Kiritsugu knocked on the door of the apartment he had rented; a second later a woman opened it. Maiya Hisau, a soldier since childhood Kiritsugu had rescued her from death and taught her the skill needed for his line of work. She became Kiritsugu's partner, helping him with every task without question. She had seen both sides of him, the hardened killer and the tormented kind man.

Kiritsugu entered the room, Maiya then quickly locked the door behind him.

"The equipment you asked for arrived just a little while ago." Madam Irisviel and Saber have both entered Japan without compromise the other masters will most likely assume that she is Saber's master and act accordingly. Also there was an incident last night at the Tohsaka's estate." Maiya switched on the apartment T.V. It started showing black and white footage of a man wearing 18th century clothing before deflecting a spear with a sword; he briefly spoke with someone off screen and walked away.

Kiritsugu stared at the screen ponderously, "What's your analysis of this footage?"

"Something is definitely unusual. There seemed insufficient time between Assassin entering the Tohsaka's estate and Tohsaka's servant attack. That tells me Tohsaka was expecting an intruder, also it seems strange that Tohsaka's servant would just let an enemy walk away or that Assassin would be willing to give up so easily."

Kiritsugu thought over Maiya's observations. If Tohsaka was expecting an intruder that might mean he planned for Assassin to try to attack him, unless that wasn't Assassin goal. What if Tohsaka was in league with Assassin's master and this assault was just a ruse to make them seem like enemies?, if that was true then the identity of Assassin master was most likely….

"Maiya do you know where Kirei Kotomine is?" Kiritsugu asked urgently.

Maiya shook her head, "After he left the Tohsaka estate Kirei disappeared. I have been trying to locate him but it will take time."

This was bad. Out of all the people in this war Kirei was the only one Kiritsugu feared. In fact, he was one of the few people Kiritsugu ever feared. For one simple reason Kiritsugu couldn't understand him. Kirei was a genius and tried all kinds of different blends and yet whenever he came close to mastering any of them he would just stop and move on and discard everything he learned like trash. He seemed to be completely lacking in any sort of passion that made him very difficult to read and that made him very dangerous.

There was something else that was troubling Kiritsugu. According to the research he had done on pervious Grail Wars, Assassin identity was supposed to be Hassan-i-Saber but the one holding the role this time seemed to be from a completely different period. An irregular servant and unpredictable master this was going a lot harder than Kiritsugu had hoped.

Shelving his thoughts about Kirei and Assassin, Kiritsugu turned towards a black sturdy box resting one of the apartment beds. He clicked it open, inside was a small old fashion gun. Kiritsugu smiled, he wasn't normally a man to form sentimental attachments to any of his tools but try as he might, he couldn't help but have a soft spot for his Thompson Contender. A gun loaded with mystic codes called origin bullets made by his mentor from his spine.

He removed it from the case, removed one bullet and inserted a second one into the weapon in the span of two seconds.

"Two seconds. I'm surprised," Kiritsugu said, "Indeed," Maya agreed. Kiritsugu placed his favoured tool back into the box and closed the lid.

"You know I was just thinking," Kiritsugu said now sounding like a tired old man, Iri weighs a lot less than that gun, she's eight years old already."

Maya placed her arms around Kiritsugu; he turned around then stared into her eyes. "Focus on the matter at hand," Maya said her voice becoming much warmer, the persona of the emotionless soldier temporarily being dropped.

"Empty your mind," She then kissed Kiritsugu on the lips. It was very bizarre sight while Maya was passionate, Kiritsugu was very strange almost robotic in his response.

Maya wasn't surprised, she had known from the beginning that their relationship was just a rehearsal for the last despicable act that would bring about Kiritsugu's ideal world, betraying the woman he loved.

Irisviel walked across the sandy beach, it was strange and thrilling experience it felt like walking through snow but a lot warmer. "You know it is nice to be escorted around a strange and wondrous new city by a gallant gentleman."

"Did I make an acceptable gentlemen escort?" asked Saber.

"You were the greatest knight a girl could ask for." Irisviel said smiling brightly.

"You honour me your highness," Saber bowed.

Irisviel looked out towards vast the sea; the moons reflection shining brightly in the water. "Saber do you like the sea?"

Saber shook her head, "I don't really know. Back in my homeland and way back in my time the sea was a source of attacks from foreign invaders and barbarians; I never felt any affection for it and often hated it."

Irisviel's face became saddened, "That's too bad. You're a girl just like me but when you were King Arthur you didn't have the leisure of simple things like this."

That was true, the moment Saber removed the sword from the stone she had committed herself to live as the ideal king. A way of life that would forever place a barrier between her and the people she served even amongst her closest friends and allies. Few ever really knew her. She never faulted in that duty, becoming a legendary king still known even after a thousand years after her death and many more into future, yet her kingdom fell anyway.

Did that make Saber a failure? Was she really fit to be king?. Perhaps it would be better if someone else had taken up the role. Regardless the Grail War had given her the chance to fix the mistakes of the past and no matter what she would not let it slip from her grasp.

"But what of your desires, wouldn't you prefer for Kiritsugu to be the one who escorted you?" Saber asked.

"Of course I would, but it couldn't be helped, perhaps that is for the best." Irisviel said.

Saber gazed in confusion, "Why? Doesn't Kiritsugu enjoy the time you spend together?"

"He does, but every time he is happy it causes him pain." Saber was about to ask Irisviel what she meant. When, suddenly Saber felt a strong presence, a servant.

"Do you feel that?" Saber asked. Irisviel smiled "how nice of them to invite us shall we accept?" Saber smirked in response.

A short time later Saber and Irisviel were at the Fuyuki City dock yard. It was a large industrial area, filled with neatly ordered metal crates. It was late at night so it was mostly deserted and someone had placed a magic barrier that would prevent anyone who wasn't a mage or servant from approaching the area. Everything was perfect for a battle between legendary heroes.

"Finally I was beginning to think no one would show up." A boy emerged from the shadow, he had golden hair and eyes and wore a brilliant red coat and carried a grey spear of stone in his right hand.

"So you're the one who threw down the gantlet, I must say **Lancer **I didn't except my first opponent to be a small child." Lancer gave Saber an_ irritated_ glare, "Ok lady you are going down." The servant of the lance took a fighting stance.

Saber smiled "It seems you have a strong will, good it would disappointing if you didn't." Her black suit vanished and was replaced with a blue and golden medieval battle skirt which was then covered in armour, while Saber's hand grasped the hilt of an invisible sword.

"Be careful Saber, I can offer you healing as combat support." Irisviel said. "Thank you and watch yourself; it troubles me that Lancer's master has yet to appear. Perhaps they plot something."

Irisviel nodded, "I will Saber and please grant me victory."

Saber gazed at Lancer with determination, "I will without fail." She charged forward with all force and power of a whirlwind. Lancer raised his spear of stone to block the strike. The weapons connected, the spear shattered, the first battle of the Grail War had begun.

A/N: I would like to thank Lord Mist for allowing me to put Edward Elric into the Lancer class and to everyone who helped me with my poor spelling and grammar. Anyway please feel free to review it at your leisure and thank you for reading it.

15


	4. Chapter 4: Mist

36

Chapter 4: Mist

While Saber and Lancer battled each other, Kiritsugu and Maiya snuck into the docks. "It's started," Kiritsugu said, "someone has put up a barrier, most likely the enemy servant's master."

Maiya gestured her head towards a large red metal industrial crane. "From that crane you would able to obverse the whole battlefield."

"You're right and anyone else seeing that crane would agree," Kiritsugu said with a cocky smile. "Maiya, you cycle around to the eastern wharf, I will go around in the opposite direction, and we both need to find good spots where we can watch both Saber and that crane."

Maiya nodded, "right understood." She left quickly to find a good spot. Kiritsugu smiled, "Now then let's see what you can do my adorable King of Knights."

Meanwhile in space, aboard the space ship Comicron One, Rider sat on his command. "See Waver, aren't you glad to be watching the fighting from a safe distance, Inside a giant super weapon instead of having to observe from some cold, windy high up place?"

Waver gave a frustrated sigh, "Rider I already admitted that your Noble Phantasm is 'awesome', will you please stop rubbing it in!"

"OK, OK, Waver chill, just pay attention after all I can't…." Rider abruptly stopped his sentence with the force of a cannon ball hitting the ground. "Holy shit is that Edward Elric!" Rider yelled while pointing to the short boy wearing a red coat.

"You know this guy!?" Waver asked with shock. Rider turned to Waver, "Edward Elric is the main character of an anime and manga franchise called Fullmetal Alchemist." "Wait," Waver said now sounding confused there was a pause. "He is a cartoon character!" Waver yelling with a huge amount frustration, "How does that even work?! This guy doesn't even exist! Yet someone was able to summon him….. Oh god my brain hurts."

Just before Waver was completely reduced to a gibbering mess, Rider gave the mage apprentice a firm slap across the face. "Get hold of yourself man!" Waver rubbed his check, "sorry," he said now sounding perfectly calm, "but seriously how do you summon a cartoon?"

Rider rubbed his chin, "I have a theory," he said, "now call me crazy but hear me out, are you familiar multiverse theory?"

"Yes," Waver nodded, not that he wouldn't know about the multiverse it was the base of second magic after all.

"Well in one famous comic story line was about a super hero who goes to a parallel world, were he meets a hero from a comic book which inspired him to become a superhero in the first place."

"OK?" Waver said, "What are getting at?"

"You see, taking into account, that the Throne of Heroes exists in every universe in every moment of time then the only logical explanation is that, Edward Elric is a heroic spirit from an alternate universe!" Rider announced while pointing at the monitor dramatically.

Meanwhile back on the docks, the battle between Saber and Lancer went on. Lancer was at a great disadvantage, he had just lost his only weapon which meant Saber was now free to attack at will, slashing her invisible blade in a fierce but calculated manner that one would expect from a master of the blade. This was one of the few times that Lancer was happy to be so small,(he made a mental note to slap himself across the face after the fight was over) since been such a small target, made the extremely daunting task of dodging an invisible sword a little bit easier.

But that alone would not be enough, he needed to get onto the offensive somehow, luckily he had something that would allow him to do just that. Archibald wouldn't be happy if it was used without his permission but Lancer didn't really like or respect him, so screw it! He was going to use his alchemy anyway.

Lancer clenched one of his gloved hands into a fist and charged it forward, aiming for his opponents face. Saber seeing that her enemy had foolishly given her a perfect opening, swung her mighty magical blade at Lancer's arm.

She was rather surprised when her blade didn't slice her enemy's limb in two but instead created a loud clacking sound. Lancer took advantage of Saber's momentary distraction and slammed his left leg right into Saber's armour, with enough force to her knock back and then he jumped backwards increasing the distance between them.

Saber's stoic warrior expression faded slightly having been diluted by confusion. However, this was short lived as Saber quickly pieced together the truth. "Your right arm is made of metal, isn't it?" She declared.

Lancer gave a fairly arrogant laid back smile. "What's the matter never seen automail before?" Saber began to glare at him. "What kind of creature are you?"

Lancer just shrugged his shoulders casually. "Just a foolish guy, who paid the price of doing a foolish thing, but I'm surprised you are so shocked, I mean I would have thought a "legend hero" would have encountered stuff far stranger than a guy with automail limbs, but if you think that's weird then this will blow your mind!"

Lancer then clapped both his palms together, there was a low crackling sound followed by blue lightning like energy, and then all of a sudden a tidal wave of stone spat out of the ground, heading straight towards Saber. The King of Knights had just barely enough time to jump sideward to avoid a getting slammed by the spikes.

Watching from his spotting position, staring through a sniper scope Kiritsugu was more than a little surprised. Alchemy that was what Lancer had just used. Kiritsugu had been working and living under the roof of the Einzbern's magi family whose claim to fame was alchemy for many years. So he would recognise alchemy when he saw it. But to see it done so easily without any kind of prepared ritual, was extremely unusual and was something you'd expect from a Castor class servant.

Kiritsugu tactical thoughts where then suddenly interrupted. "Lancer, I thought I made it very clear not use your Noble Phantasm, unless I granted permission!" The yelling came from Lancer's master who had just revealed his location to everyone watching the fight. A foolish move but then again if years in his line of work had taught Kiritsugu anything, it was that magi often lacked common sense.

Lancer turned to his master, while giving him an annoyed glare. "Hay jackass! You do realise I was backed in to a corner, what was I supposed to do? just dance around and get cut to pieces, and last I checked you wanted me to win this fight!"

Lancer's master gritted his teeth, "that not the point!"

This was the perfect moment; Lancer's master was out in the opening and was distracted. If Kiritsugu was going to take out Lancer's master now was the time.

"Maiya can you see Lancer's master from your spotting position?" Kiritsugu asked over his phone. "No, I can't see him."

Kiritsugu load his sniper rifle, "I am going to eliminate Lancer's master, be ready to…."Before he could even start aiming, Kiritsugu felt a huge gust of cold air rush past him that was odd. Tonight wasn't windy so the only way that a gust of air that big could form was if something was moving really dam fast and the only thing that could be was a servant!

Kiritsugu turned his weapon towards the crane. He looked through the scope and there he was gentlemen's outfit and all, Assassin! Suddenly everything had gotten a lot more complicated. Depending on the situation Assassin might decide to intercept attempts to kill Lance's master. At this point Kiritsugu couldn't afford to get into that situation!

"Assassin is here," Maiya said, "do we still eliminate Lancer's master?"

"Negative," Kiritsugu answered, "we aren't equipped to fight servants yet, for now we will obverse and act only if necessary."

Meanwhile far away in his safe house Kirei stood in front of an old phonograph. "The first true battle of the Grail War had begun." Kirei said. "Not the first battle Kirei, to everyone else this is the _second_ battle." Tokiomi's voice came from the phonograph; the old machine had been converted into a device that allowed the two to communicate. To be honest Kirei felt a phone would have being much easier to use.

"Assassin's men have surrounded the dock. It appears that the combatants are Lancer and Saber," Kirei said. "What have you discovered about them?" Tokiomi asked.

"Saber is a female knight with blonde hair and green eyes, she wields what Assassin believes to be an 'invisible sword', my guess is that she uses magecraft to hide the blade, as for Lancer he appears to be a powerful alchemist, who can perform alchemy without any of the complicated rituals."

"No rituals?" Tokiomi asked, "How does he do it then?"

"He claps his hands together," Kirei answered, "Apart from that I have no idea."

Tokiomi voice came back from the phonograph "Any information on the masters?"

"Lancer's master is Kayneth Archibald and Saber is accompanied by a woman with snow white hair." It was a bit longer than normal before Tokiomi said anything.

"An Einzbern homunculus," Tokiomi pondered, "so they have created another artificial master, I thought Kiritsugu Emiya was the only pawn they had on the board, regardless, she will be a critical factor in the rest of the Grail War. "

"I will have Assassin assign some his men to keep an eye on her at all times." Kirei respond.

Meanwhile Lancer and his master Kayneth Archibald were still arguing. "How dare you insult me! You little runt!" Kayneth yelled, "I will teach you respect." A chrisom red glow appeared behind Kayneth's glove, as power flowed into the command seal.

"You really want to waste a command seal, on something this stupid?!" Lancer yelled back, "Fine go head, in the long run this just means a longer leash."

Before the argument could continue, Saber slammed her foot into the ground, creating a clacking with her armoured boot. "Are you two done yet?!" Honestly this was getting ridiculous Saber had always consider herself to be a patient woman, but she had her limits and right now they were been pushed. Thankfully the master and servant finally stop their bickering.

Lancer tuned around and grinned. "You know if I were you, I would take advantage of my opponent's distraction and try to get a hit in."

"I would never employ such dishonourable tactics!" Saber shouted. Lancer shrugged his shoulders casually, "What you call dishonourable, I call sensible". Saber was about to responded when suddenly,"hahahahaha,"

The laughed was cold and dark, sending a chill down the spine of any that heard it. A black haze emerged from the shadows, spilling forth from every nook and cranny, gathering into one pitch black fog which quickly formed itself into a black elf like being with a pitch black eye, its body covered in green diamond shaped dots.

Saber gripped her blade title, as drop of dread entered her body. This thing was a servant that wasn't in doubt, but there was something off, something unsettling, almost unnatural about this servant. Whatever it was it wasn't human.

"Greetings," the monster said, his voice dripping with sadism. "I am Avenger; it's time for you die."

There was a bright flash of purple light as a disc shaped object appeared on his right arm. A deck of cards rested inside it. Avenger drew three cards from the top the deck. "I summon Malicevorous Fork, Malicevorous Knife and Malicevorous Spoon!"

There was a bright flash of light, suddenly standing in opposition to the two legendry heroes, were three nasty looking monsters that looked like a cross between imps and beetles. The one in the centre wielded a giant red knife, the one on the left welded a giant silver spoon, and the other welded a giant golden fork.

Lancer chuckled and made a cocky smile, "so all that hype and the best you can do, is a bunch of over grown bug chimeras wielding kitchen wear, that's really lame." Lancer jested, but Saber could tell from his body language that was just unnerved by Avenger as she was.

The servants weren't the only ones feeling uneasy. As Kiritsugu observed, this servant stats were very strange, Avenger had high mana and luck but his strength, agility and endurance; well they weren't weak as much as he didn't possess any kind of ranking. Needless to say Kiritsugu didn't like this situation one bit.

Back at the stand of Avenger was ready make his move. "Malicevorous Fork, Malicevorous Knife and Malicevorous Spoon, kill them!" The monster charged lunging at Lancer and Saber. They splinted up with the knife monster and fork monster going after Saber and the spoon monster attacking Lancer.

The spoon monster raised its weapon, trying smash into Lancer's skull. Lancer raise as metal arm to intercept, the two objects' metal slammed against each other creating a mighty clank. "Saber gets two and I only get one, I feel so insulted," Lancer said, with a great deal of cocky sarcasm.

Lancer raised his automail leg and rammed it into the beetle imps gut, with enough force to knock it to the ground. Lancer clapped his hands together, there was the crackling of alchemy and then a massive stone fist took shape launching itself forward into the imp beetle, sending the pest flying through the air, until it crashed to the ground with enough might to crack the concrete ground.

Saber meanwhile faced off against the fork and knife imp. The two monsters attacked at the same time. Saber being a master of the blade easily deflected both blows; she then swung her blade, a gust of invisible air hitting both enemies and sending them flying into the spoon imp. All three smashed against each other, creating a large pile in the centre of the docks.

"That's the best you've got? All that build up and we toss your minions around like it was nothing, kind of lame if ask me," Lancer said. "I have to agree with Lancer," Saber said, "after all that bravado, I was expecting more."

Avenger wasn't fazed. "You're disappointed? Very well it's time for me to stop, toying with you," Avenger's smug smile transformed into a crazed grin. "I overlay my Malicevorous Fork, Malicevorous Knife and Malicevorous Spoon," the little things, suddenly transformed into purple orbs, as a vortex of stars appeared floating just above the ground. The purple orbs then flew into the centre, creating a crackling sound, "In order to summon my avatar Number 96 Dark Mist!" A massive blob of black tar -like ooze emerged from the vortex. Two short arms which ended in massive clawed hands, emerged from the blob, as two short tentacles -like legs, appeared beneath. A long whip like tail formed at the back. The centre of the blob stretched and twisted itself until, a massive jaw with mean -looking serrated teeth was formed above the mouth were two eye slits, which were filled with orange demonic flames. Above the creature's "chest," was a pyramid shape with a flat top; attached to the "head" were two large, thick horns. On the right side of the head written in a purple, alien font was the number 96. Orbiting the monster were three purple orbs of light.

Once the dramatic show ended, Lancer burst into laughter. "Are you kidding me!? That's your big play; I think the knife guy was stronger, than this slime monster."

Kiritsugu had to agree. Whatever this Dark Mist thing was, it was weak. It had 'E' rank in everything, which was the lowest rank of any servant parameters. Why would Avenger sacrifice three of his familiars, to summon something that weak? He was defiantly up to something.

Back on the ground the servants had similar thoughts. "So what's our plan of attack?" Lancer asked Saber. "What makes you think we are working together?" Saber whispered back. "Well, this Avenger guy is clearly setting up some kind of trap and he did interrupt our fight, so if we want to get back to beating the crap out of each other we should get rid of him first." Lancer explained. Saber nodded, "I see your point very well do you have any ideas?

"As, it just so happens," Lancer said, "I have an entire plan, there is clearly more to Avenger's familiar then there appears to be, you take the familiar head on while I cycle around and kick Avenger's smug ass."

Saber thought over the plan for a moment. "Very well I will follow your lead."

"Done bickering yet?" Avenger asked his arrogant smirk still in place.

Saber charged forward, her blade raised while Lancer ran in a semicircle trying to get around and attack Avenger from the back. Avenger expression suddenly transformed back into a crazed grin, "I activate the trap Fiendish Chain!"

A massive purple card emerged from the ground, a massive chain then appeared from the card. The chain wrapped itself around Lancer's body holding him in place. "What the hell is this?!" Lancer yelled as he started wiggling in order to escape his bounds.

Saber's sword was about to connect with the blob monster, when Avenger made his second move. "I activate number 96 Dark Mist effect, by removing one overlay unit; Dark Mist drains half your power." A thin wave of black smoke engulfed Saber, her body suddenly feeling very weak and tired. The Familiar's claws grew into massive tentacle whips; they flailed around like a wrecking ball. They slammed into Saber, sending her flying into a metal crate. The impact creating a massive dent in the steel box, The King of Knights fell to the ground, her body was covered in cuts that ranged from small to large, small cuts and dents were littered across her gleaming armour.

Saber used her blade to help herself off the ground. "Irisviel heal me!"

Irisviel shut her eyes and concentrated, her body glowed bright green and within a second or two the bleeding wounds disappeared. But Saber still felt weak.

Kiritsugu hadn't felt true shock in a long time, but today he felt it in droves. Avenger had just cut Saber's status in half and gained that power for himself and on top of that he had disabled Lancer. This put Kiritsugu in a really bad position even with her wounds healed Saber was no match for Avenger in her current state and Lancer chained up. Saber needed to retreat, but it was unlikely that Avenger would let her. Perhaps using a command seal would help, but that would leave Iri undefended.

Meanwhile Lancer was wiggling his body like crazy trying to get at least one of his hands free, if he could just clap his hands together then he should be able to break the chain holding him, using his alchemy. Annoyingly, the chains were tied tight. "Come on arms, stupid chain," Lancer would have continued his ramblings, if he hadn't at that point got one of his hands free. Without wasting anytime he clapped one hand against the other and the chain broke in two.

"Ok," Lancer began as he used his alchemy to add a blade to his automail arm, "time to kick Avenger's ass!" Lancer charged forward, Avenger's back was vulnerable, there were no obstacles in his path all Ed had to do was use his blade and that arrogant prick that would be cut in two. He charged forward, raised the blade, brought it down and it passed right through Avenger like mist.

Avenger chuckled, "Did you honestly think it would be that easy?" His avatar then proceeded to smack Lancer like a fly. The alchemist when flying into the air before he hit the ground hard.

Avenger turned his frightening attention back to Saber. "Now unless anyone else, has any…"

Suddenly out of the blue, an orb of orange light slammed into Avenger's familiar and exploded. Avenger grabbed his left shoulder in what appeared to be pain, his arrogant smirk turning into a scornful frown. "Who did that?!" The black spirit demanded. He turned around towards the direction from where the orb came.

Standing in the centre of docks flint pistol raised was a servant. "The names Rider and I'm here to take you down!"

Whatever would have made this entrance dramatic was ruined by Waver emerging from behind Rider, shaking slightly and looking incredible nervous. "Rider! Why are you getting involved? I thought we agreed that we would only observe tonight."

"Because Dark Mist is an Omnicidal Maniac who needs to be stopped," Rider responded.

"Ok," Waver said, "That's fine but why the hell did you bring me along?!" He yelled at Rider in panicked stress.

Before Rider could answer the question Kayneth decided to interrupt. "Waver Velvet, I don't know what possessed a maggot like you to steal from me, perhaps I should give you a live demonstrate on how magi kill each other?"

At this point Waver's body being overwhelmed by fear, he was starting to regret coming to this city. Why did he steal Archibald's artefact, why hadn't he just gritted his teeth and bared the insults? He could still be back at The Clock Tower studying in the library where it was nice and safe.

Waver was just about to break down in panic. When Lancer spoke up, "You know Archibald I think you really shouldn't be calling him a maggot, I mean what he did took balls, Hell! He even has the guts to actually stand beside his servant, while you just hide in the shadows like a wimp."

Archibald was going to be pissed at him for that but Lancer really didn't care, the bastard's ego was huge and was bound to get him killed in this war. So knocking him down a peg would be good for him. Archibald should have been grateful that Lancer was even bothering to help the mage in the first place. Lancer didn't have a wish to grant and to be honest even if he did Ed had learned that nothing came without a price, why would this grail be any different?

"Enough of this!" Avenger yelled as he took a card from his deck and placed it into a slot on the disc on his arm. A bright orb of orange flames shot out of the disc right at Rider, who simply pointed his gun and fired. The two projectiles destroyed each other creating one big explosion.

"You know Dark Mist…." Rider charged forward through the smoke, fist raised. Avenger's avatar stretched its tentacles trying to smash Rider to dust, but alas the reviewer dodged each and every one of them. "You maybe a fragment of an Eldritch Abomination," Rider closed the gap, winding his fist back; the world froze for a brief moment. "But I am a MAN!" Rider's fist was imbedded in Avenger's body creating a massive shock wave so powerful it almost cracked the lens of Kiritsugu's scope. Avenger's avatar went flying across the ground crashing into a metal crate, creating a rather large hole in it.

Avenger grabbed his "gut" in pain while giving Rider the death glare. "You will pay for that!" The black spirit took two cards form his deck, "I overlay two Malicevorous Forks and Xzy summon Number 65: Djinn Buster!"

Just like before a vortex of stars appeared, two purple orbs flew into the centre. A massive robotic like purple and golden warrior emerged; it had a huge bat like metal wing. It had two massive red claws on each hand for weapons.

The monster called Number 65: Djinn Buster launched at Rider. He was able to avoid getting cut in two but the impact of the claws smashing the pavement was enough to knock him off his feet.

Number 96's avatar raised its tentacles trying to crush Rider into paste, Saber intercepted the attack with her sword putting in just enough force to deflect the blow but ended up getting shoulder charged by Djinn Buster for her troubles. Lancer clapped his hands together and touched the ground, creating blue crackles of energy as the alchemical reactions began to take shape. Unfortunately Avenger was prepared, "I activate Djinn Buster's effect, I remove one overlay unit to negate your Noble Phantasm and then deal C rank damage to you!" Djinn Buster's claws glowed bright red, the alchemy stopped abruptly before Lancer could give a reaction, the number monster fired a beam of purple light that struck the alchemist, knocking him to the ground.

Avenger laughed as the three heroes started pulling themselves up. "Pathetic," the menacing monster's voice returning to its blood thirsty arrogant state. "Absolutely pathetic, did you fools honestly think you could defeat me, the most powerful being on this planet!" Avenger shouted to the heavens.

"You dare to imply that I am lower than you, you piece of mongrel slime." A voice echoed, it was arrogant but not in way that Avenger's was, calmer colder without any of the psychotic overtones, like the statement of superiority was a simple matter of fact rather than something worthy boasting of.

The speaker appeared from a stream of golden light standing on top of a street light. Armoured gold he gazed across the rugged battlefield that had once been a docks, with casual disgust.

"It's him," Waver said. "The servant who fought Assassin," Kayneth said. While everyone else seemed to be almost awe struck by Archer appearing, Avenger didn't seem to react at all, instead he just kept smirking.

"Are you mocking me mongrel? "Archer asked coldly, Avenger didn't respond. "Answer me!" the golden man demanded as weapons appeared in the air, creating magical ripples. Avenger's smile grew wider, "you fell for it." He whispered to himself.

Not too far way Kariya was hiding, waiting alongside Berserker. "It is time," Kariya said.

Berserker nodded and turned around, "I will not disappoint you father." The childish servant headed into battle.

"_Mist,"_ Avenger and Archer were both engulfed in a thick fog, hiding them from the other three servants who were gazing on not sure what to do.

Archer found himself surrounded by thick fog as far as the eye could see. It was so thick he couldn't see anywhere past his own legs. He heard the faint noise of feet running across the ground. He was just about to fire a weapon when he realised something, not only couldn't he even guess where the sound came from but he couldn't even tell left from right, which was problematic when trying to aim. Not only couldn't he see the target but the most basic elements of aiming seemed to have vanished.

Unbeknownst to the Hero King this was not the work of Avenger but Berserker's Noble Phantasm. A manifestation of the magecraft she used in life to stalk her victims. The Mist was based on the smog created by the pollution of industrial London. It had to two effects; one was that it can weaken a target over time. Ordinary people would collapse after spending a few seconds inside the fog, a mage could stay awake but would be seriously weakened, and a servant would just have their agility reduced. The second power of the Mist was that it messed with ones sense of direction; the function of this feature was to cause those who tried to escape the mist to run in circles. However, it also had the side effect of making it impossible to fire accurate shots since not only couldn't you see, you couldn't tell were anything else was in relation to yourself.

Even with this edge, the task before Berserker was daunting. Archer was not only one of the oldest heroic spirts around but in his life he was a demigod king who regularly battled gods and monsters. Berserker on the other hand was nothing more than a glorified murderer who lived just over a century ago and whose only accomplishment was the pointless death of three victims. What Berserker was trying to do was like an ant attempting to beat up an elephant, in theory anyway. In practice however Berserker had one more trick up her sleeve.

"Come out and face me mongrel you are trying my patience!" Archer yelled. Berserker smiled childishly, if the mean man wanted to her see so badly then he would see her. Leaping out of the Mist, Berserker drew a black sharp scalpel and brought it down; Archer moved to avoid the attack but alas his efforts were in vain as the scalpel started cutting deep into his face.

He was barely able to control his fall from the lamp post long enough to stop himself landing on his back. He grabbed his face as warm chrisom blood dripped down his face and hand; he gave an intense death glare at the spot where Berserker had come from only to find she had leapt back into the fog. Gilgamesh growled like a beast. How could have this filthy mongrel possible harm him?

The answer lied in Berserker's Murderer of the Misty Night a servant skill that guaranteed a pre-emptive strike against an enemy as long the battle took place at night. Not that Archer would care if he did know; the only thing on his mind was destroying Berserker completely and utterly.

"You, you, dare," Archer rumbled too furious to form a proper sentence, "Time to face oblivion!" The golden servant opened his Gate of Babylon as far as he could. Revealing a massive arsenal of legendary weapons from every era, each magnificent weapon had been given one goal: kill Gilgamesh's enemy. The sea of weapons was so vast that it no longer mattered that accurate aiming was impossible with this much firepower you were bound hit something.

"I activate Djinn Buster's effect!" Avenger voice cut through the black and grey fog, "By removing one overlay unit I negate your Noble Phantasm and then hit with C rank damage"

The weapons from the Gate of Babylon disappeared in a flash. Archer stared up in shock but before he could make any remarks a stream of light shot out from the fog and struck him. He was so certain that his amour would be able to block the attack. That he was completely taken off guard, when he felt a level of pain similar to what a regular person would feel if someone dropped a block of concrete on them. After been knocked to the ground Archer tried to open his gate again only to find that he couldn't. It was like some sort of wall blocking off his will from the gate.

"Did I forget to mention?" Avenger said as he floated into sight, his familiars right behind him, "after Djinn Buster negates a Noble Phantasm you can't use it for three minutes." Avenger laughed as his avatar attacked with its tentacle claws. Archer crossed his arms trying to use his sturdy amour to block the strike; there was little else he could do. The block was successfully but that just prompted Djinn Buster to start hammering at Archer, each strike sending him back an inch. Berserker then picked that moment to pop out of the mist and try to stab Archer in the back of the head. Archer was just barely able to move one of his hands away from Djinn Buster to stop the black scalpel. This action sadly left his head open to an assault by Avenger's familiar.

In his Manor, Tokiomi Tohsaka watched the battle through his servant's eyes. It was going horribly; Gilgamesh was the mightiest hero because of his vast numbers of Noble Phantasms but without them he was completely vulnerable. If Tokiomi didn't act soon he would lose his servant, while he would have to deal with Gilgamesh's wrath but it was better than losing his servant. "By the power of my command seal, come to my side at once Gilgamesh!"

Less than a second later Gilgamesh appeared kneeling on the study floor, a massive deep cut in his face. He started looking around the room, and when he realized what just happened, a massive cry of anger echoed throughout the building.

Back at the docks, Avenger and Berserker were standing around. "Well that was disappointing," Avenger said, he shrugged, "But not unexpected, Tohsaka seems to have more sense than his servant."

The black spirt raised his arm and his monster disappeared in a haze of black smog. "We're done for tonight we're leaving," he ordered. "I don't take orders from you," Berserker said coldly. Avenger gave her a dark look of subdued anger, "be careful whelp remember, my master holds yours like a dog on leash, you would do well to respect me." With that Avenger vanished. Left with no reason to stay the servant of madness exited the docks taking the mist with her, leaving behind many confused on lookers.

"Does anyone have any idea about what just happened?" Waver asked no one in particular. "To be honest master, I have no idea," Rider answered.

"Lancer," Kayneth ordered, "it's time to withdraw, we are going to have a long discussion about your performance tonight, in both skill and attitude."

Lancer groaned in annoyance. "Well I better get going otherwise his rant is going to go on for much longer," he turned to Saber. "Hey Saber try not to die anytime some, I would love to finish our fight."

Saber smiled at Lancer, "It would be honour Lancer." With that the alchemist disappeared into his spirit form.

Rider stretched his arms. "Well we better get going too," he said, "Oh just one more thing," Rider tossed a metal device to Saber. She caught it in the air and looked down at it. It was a strange unfamiliar sliver object, covered in black buttons.

"That is a communicator, if you ever encounter Avenger again call us up we will try to help you if we can," Rider explained.

"And what is your reason for offering such generous aid?" Saber asked sounding suspicious.

"Because Saber," Rider said, his voice becoming a bit more serious, "Avenger is a monster that given the chance will bring destruction to the world just so he can watch it burn."

Saber considered for a moment, "very well for now I shall accept your gift."

"Well I guess that's the best we can hope for," Rider said while pulling his own communicator from his coat pocket. "Nimue beam us up," the servant and this master disappeared in a stream of blue light.

"I'm sorry Irisviel," Saber apologized. "What do mean Saber? You tried your best."

"And, I still failed." Irisviel gently grabbed Saber's hand, "Saber" she said firmly, "Avenger was able hold his own against multiple servants at once so please, don't be too hard on yourself."

Saber sighed and then smiled, "you're right, while I maybe weakened, I can still fight, and I will succeed no matter how many strange enemies I must face."

After that the two women left the docks unaware that far away, in spirit form Caster was watching them.

A/N: Well that was a hopefully intense chapter. As usual thank you everyone who helped me with the editing of this chapter. And since this is a Fate Fic, here is the obligatory servant profile.

Class: Avenger

True Name: Number 96 Dark Mist

Strength: N/A

Endurance: N/A

Agility: N/A

Mana: A

Luck: A

Skills:

Discernment of the Poor: B-

Insight to see through the opponent's character and attribute.

Been a sort of fusion being created by the battle between Astral and Don Thousand, Dark Mist has some of Astral obviations skills. However his massive ego and madness surly hamper these abilities.

Mental Pollution: A+

Makes it highly possible to shut out any mental interference Thaumaturgy, due to possessing a distorted mentality. However, at the same time it becomes impossible to come to an understanding with individuals that do not possess an equivalent rank of mental pollution.

By his very nature Dark Mist enjoys causing destruction and death on a cosmic scale, thus making it impossible for most humans to truly connect to him.

Duelling: A

This skill is given to servants who played the game of Duel Monsters in life. When two servants who have this skill meet, they can both challenge each other to a duel. When it starts both servants will have their Noble Phantasm locked and any attempts to stop it will be repelled. The duel will finish when one of the players achieves a victory condition. The loser will be absorbed by the Grail.

Dark Mist like Astral possesses almost supernatural Duelling abilities.

Noble Phantasm:

Number 96 Dark Mist- A fragment of Don Thousand: Anti Unit- Rank A+:

A number created during the battle between the beings Astral and Don Thousand this number can only be summoned by overlying three level two monsters. Once summoned this monster can once per battle use one overlay unit to take half of all of an enemy servant's status and add their power to its own.

The down side is that this number is directly linked to Dark Mist since they are the same being. Any time number 96 is hit Dark Mist will feel pain, if 96 is destroyed than so is Dark Mist.

It's based status is:

Strength: E

Endurance: E

Agility: E

Mana: E

Luck: E

Number 65: Djinn Buster- The Mad Prince's executioner: B+

While normally the possession of the Barian Emperor Vector, Dark Mist did briefly own and use this number.

Djinn Buster is summoned by overlaying two level two Dark monsters. By using an overlay unit it can negate the activation of a Noble Phantasm and the opposing servant takes C rank damage, after being negated the Noble Phantasm is locked for three minutes.

Its base status is

Strength: C-

Endurance: E

Agility: C

Mana: B

Luck: E

Number 69: Heraldry Crest [Locked under Avenger class can't be used outside of duels]

Number 92: Heart-eartH Dragon [Locked under Avenger class can't be used outside of duels]


End file.
